you will not immediately like all five politicians (including Konrad Adenauer and Richard Nixon) and the “Iron Lady” Margaret Thatcher, whom former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger describes as exemplary in his new book “State Art”. But one immediately grasps his thesis: “Great leadership arises from the collision of the unchangeable and the malleable, from what is given and what requires effort.” And one quickly concludes that it cannot mean Boris Johnson, the British prime minister whose power is waning like Hamlet’s confidence in Shakespeare’s theatre. The man faces his political end.
Following a chronicle of the scandals, two key ministers resigned last night in protest at Johnson’s conduct in office: Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak and Health Minister Sajid Javid. Further resignations followed, for example by two state secretaries. What do the fugitives explain?
- The public rightly expects “that the government acts properly, competently and seriously,” writes Finance Minister Sunak.
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Ex-colleague Javid, on the other hand, criticizes the conservative prime minister for not initiating a change of course even after the party’s vote of no confidence, which was recently narrowly won: “It is clear to me that this situation will not change under your leadership.”
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Johnson had to be accused by the police of violating corona rules during the lockdown with parties at the official headquarters. It imposed a fine. Most recently, it came out that he made fellow party member Chris Pincher deputy head of the parliamentary group, although he knew of allegations that the politician, who has since been ousted, had sexually molested two men in a London private club. Kissinger once again: “No society can remain great if it loses faith in itself or systematically casts doubt on its self-perception.”
The British prime minister has been heavily criticized for months.
(Photo: Getty Images)
Let’s stay a little longer on the subject of “statecraft”. In Denmark, Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen received a reprimand from Parliament for a controversial mass killing of more than 15 million farmed mink in the corona pandemic. It is a symbolic act with no legal consequences, pronounced by their Social Democrats and their allies.
A commission of inquiry had previously accused the head of government that her statements at a press conference in 2020 after the decision to kill the animals were “grossly misleading”. At the time, Frederiksen pointed out that the corona virus had mutated in the animals and there was a risk that vaccines could be less effective. However, the legal basis for the mass culling was only created afterwards.
In Frankfurt am Main, Mayor Peter Feldmann (SPD) announced his long-awaited departure – but not until the end of January. It will be a tormenting time that he actually wants to spare everyone. For a long time, he has been stricken with serious corruption allegations and therefore has to answer in court. Feldmann’s wife, as head of a day-care center run by Arbeiterwohlfahrt (Awo), is said to have received a salary in excess of the collective bargaining agreement “without any objective reason”. In turn, Feldmann supported the Awo in the 2018 election campaign by raising donations, while in return he wanted to “benevolently consider” the interests of the Awo Frankfurt. Feldmann finally battered his image with several public missteps.
Christian Olearius, longtime head of the Hamburg private bank MM Warburg, also belongs in the category of “fallen heroes”. This is the banker who, in Hamburg’s social-democratic ecosystem, spoke twice to the then Mayor Olaf Scholz in 2016 about the fact that the tax authorities should under no circumstances collect 43 million euros in back taxes from cum-ex transactions.
The banker is accused by the Cologne public prosecutor’s office.
(Photo: ullstein bild – Fabricius/WELT)
Scholz is now Chancellor and has glaring gaps in his memory on this matter. Olearius, in turn, is accused by the Cologne public prosecutor’s office before the Bonn district court – for alleged tax evasion of 300 million euros. A trial could reveal how an entire system was designed to fleece the state. Olearius denies any wrongdoing.
Is the Tübingen biotech company Curevac, in which the state has a stake, just an unfair loser in the race for the best corona vaccine? Or have you actually been loaded by the successful Mainz competitor Biontech? This question is to be clarified by the Düsseldorf regional court, where the Tübingen company filed a lawsuit against Biontech and two subsidiaries.
Four patents for the development of the mRNA vaccine were violated. One imagines “fair compensation”, which the opponents could not agree on in a number of discussions. Curevac now wants to be a pioneer in the development of a new second-generation vaccine with its British partner Glaxo-Smithkline – and may also want to sue the US company Moderna.
After so many riots, this wake-up call ends with something uplifting. For example, employees in some of the most important listed German companies can look forward to: According to our survey, they are adjusting their salary budgets and granting higher wages to compensate for inflation. Examples are the chip manufacturer Infineon and the chemicals dealer Brenntag. Adidas, Merck, Vonovia and Deutsche Telekom also take inflation into account, with Telekom relying on one-off payments, especially for low earners. Most recently, inflation had dropped slightly to 7.6 percent, but the demand for higher wages is not stopping that.
Tanja Wielgoß (from left), Lisa Währer, Verena Pausder, Ariane Hingst, Katharina Kurz and Felicia Mutterer want to change football in Germany with their project.
And then there are six female investors around founder Verena Pausder and national soccer player Ariane Hingst who say to themselves: “We’re cracking the last male bastion”. You may have guessed that the day the European Women’s Championship begins is about football. The women’s crew at FC Viktoria 1889 Berlin wants to repeat what a Red Bull-sponsored men’s clique achieved at RB Leipzig: The regional league club is to play in the first women’s Bundesliga in 2026/27.
It is “an economic project with a socio-political mission,” says Pausder in the Handelsblatt. They want to increase recognition for women’s football. The model is Angel City FC from Los Angeles, founded in 2020 and now integrated into the game. Tennis star Serena Williams and actresses Eva Longoria and Natalie Portman donate money. Incidentally, in several episodes, ARD, Sky and Magenta TV are broadcasting the documentary “Born for this – More than football” about the German national team appearing at the European Championship.
In turbulent times like this, it helps to look at a frequently quoted motto attributed to the theologian Friedrich Christoph Oetinger (1702 – 1782): “God give me the strength to change things that I can change; the serenity to accept things I cannot change – and the wisdom to know one from the other.”
So I wish you a day of strength, serenity and wisdom.
It greets you cordially
Her
Hans Jürgen Jakobs
Senior editor
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